Patrick Custom Builders

Create A Pen Drive Business Card

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 00:00:31 +0000

Want to save paper, save money and wow your business contacts at the same time? Use a cheap key chain “pen drive” (a small flash memory card that jacks to a USB port) to create an interactive “business card” that will stand way out from the crowd.

Upload the drive with your filled-in Outlook/Plaxo contact or virtual business card and add a few free offerings such as an short MP3 demo of a class or training, a white paper, workbook, ebook – whatever is pertinent to your business. Keep the drive with you and whenever someone is talking to you about your work and has access to gear that will accept your drive (PDA, laptop, pocket PC, USB-capable smart-phone, etc), you can just offer to download your inclusive package into their device.

No more agonizingly expensive waste of newly obsolete business cards whenever you need to update or change your contact information. One less “what do I do with this” business card for your contacts to have to deal with when they get home from whatever networking event you’ve connected at. And you can constantly tweak the content for relevance, change seasonal discounts, update with limited special offers, and so on!

A few caveats:

1. Choose your selections carefully. Opt for high-value, high-return options that will benefit the receiver, not just the giver. You can include a brochure, if it seems appropriate, but make the bulk of your offering valuable, pertinent and something they’ll want to pass on to friends (taking your information with it)!

2. Respect your contact’s time and available memory! Make sure that you don’t pack it so full that it will overload smaller devices or take 20 minutes to download! If you have large-file offerings you’d like to share, consider creating a single html “web page” to download instead, with the links embedded in it. Your contact then simply opens the page, logs onto their ISP and clicks through to get all the great stuff you want to share!

3. Don’t push! Not everyone is comfortable letting just anyone download stuff into his or her devices. If this is a concern, offer to take their card and send them the information via email. You’ve already made a good impression just by being ready and willing to pass on valuable items on the spot. Anything beyond that is pure gravy.

With just a bit of careful decision-making and common sense, a pen drive business card can be an amazingly successful vehicle for generating greater interaction, creating an environment of valuable informational exchange and providing a source of interesting conversation. It can include anything from a PowerPoint presentation to a multi-media product demo to an audio/video clip of your services or presentation skill – all condensed into one tiny, cigarette lighter-sized bauble. You can even buy them in designer shapes and colors, or imprinted with your logo. And, while we have been discussing mainly business applications, it is a technology that lends itself to a nearly infinite variety of adaptations. How many ways you can think of to use this idea?

Online Business – The Biggest Barriers to Success Online

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 00:00:24 +0000

I think that one of the biggest barriers to getting rich online is the constant negativity from those around you.

I made $125 the first month fulltime online. I worked about 200 hours – I was working for about 60 cents per hour. The next month I doubled that. $1.20 per hour. That would cripple most people. But I had faith in what I was doing. The fourth month I made $2500 online. If I had given up at 60 cents per hour, because other people thought I wasn’t making enough money, I would still be going to work for someone else from 9-5. Now don’t get me wrong – I still work 9-5 or 9-7 and sometimes until midnight, but I am working for myself. What if I had listened to negativity of those around me?

You have to simply block it out. Do not let it affect you. Tell people you don’t want to hear the negativity. If they don’t respect you, stop spending time with you. If they asked you not to talk about something in their life, you would respect that, wouldn’t you? So don’t feel like you have to keep spending time with them if they won’t respect that.

I think another big barrier to success online is the tendency to jump on every new bandwagon that comes along, to join every new program that comes along. I can tell you this, there is not get rich quick scheme online that will really get you rich quick. And if you join a new program everyday and promote a new scheme to your list everyday, you will not succeed and your list will quit opening your emails. Commit to building a solid business online, and do not be swayed. Simply refuse to get involved in anything unless it fits into your plan.

Business Plans

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 00:00:07 +0000

One of the most important documents that every business will need to construct and produce is their business plan.

These plans have a variety of uses:
They can assist a company when raising investment or funding; and They can assist the management of a business with the direction of the business; and They can assist management by providing a tool to measure and monitor business performance.

The fundamental areas which every business plan should consist of are:

· Objectives
· Description of the current status
· How to achieve the objectives (strategy and tactics)
· Consideration of the risks
· Financial budget

A business plan should contain details of the organisation’s objectives, and these objectives should follow the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Timed) framework, to ensure that the company is capable of realistically achieving them. For some organisations their objectives may be very straightforward such as growing revenue and profitability by X%. For others it may contain a multitude of elements.

A description of the current status may be a volumous exercise. Generally this would include a description of the current business objectives, operation, key personnel, skills gap; customer base; key suppliers; historic financial performance. Of course every business is different so the focus on a specific function will differ from one plan to another.

In determining how to achieve the company objectives often the company will need to consider researching the market and understanding not only what is happening among their direct competition but further afield more generally within the economy.

The research and analysis conducted may follow certain well known models such as a PESTLE analysis (Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal and Ecological) and a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). Other research and analysis may be less structured.

By understanding the market and the internal capabilities, the company is able to conceive realistic business objectives for the management and the team to achieve.

With any plan there are risks and these will need to be considered at length. Such considerations may simply be:
What happens if sales run at 75% of last year What happens if there is a delay with our ecommerce website What happens if a key member of staff leaves Or, something more complex.

The risk analysis will allow management to put in place contingency measures that are essential for both safe-guarding the prospects of the business and for the successful delivery of the business objectives.

By setting a financial budget the management team are able to determine and control what financial resource that is available will be utilised to achieve their objectives. In some cases the business may need to seek additional working capital to be able to forge ahead with its plans.

The process should not just be something that you feel you ought to do before the beginning of the financial year. It should be something that is reviewed and updated throughout the year. Companies that plan ahead, document their plans, communicate it to the team and constantly benchmark performance against the plan are most likely to succeed.